By GEORGE STAHL
We are in full swing of summer! Picnics, outdoor games, and BBQs are all a big part of the season. So are a few things that we do not practically care for. Ants comes to mid. Bees is another, spiders, other bugs and of course, mosquitoes!
The mosquito hasn’t survived all these 250 million years by accident. These leftovers from the Triassic period are tiny dragon-like insects less than 1-inch-long and have been the bane in people’s sides, arms, legs, necks and ears every year. They are calculating, conniving and patient little buggers (Pun intended). They will take the time to fly around hundreds of people if necessary until they feel out the right one. It is very much a relationship and both parties have to be compatible, not necessarily consenting, but on the same page blood wise.
It is a lot of work for the mosquito and a heck of an annoyance for the human. Have you ever been out with a friend, wife, husband or child and all of a sudden what feels like hundreds of kamikazes flying insects begin swarming around you? The experience can be pretty alarming for most people, but when the attack is over, and the wounded are accounted for, how surprised are you that you may only have one or even two bites from the horde? Then, your companion is even more surprised and a lot more upset that you came out of the onslaught virtually unscaved, but they are cover from head to toe with tiny, extremely itchy bumps.
It all comes down to science. When mosquitos feast on one victim but not on a person standing less than a foot away it is because the pest is prudent. The fact that you do not have the blood type a mosquito prefers, or that you may not sweat as much as the next guy, or that you do not have the right skin temperature a mosquito needs to attach itself to you, are all factors in who and why a mosquito attacks one person and not the other.
How do you know if you are on Tiny Dragon’s menu? 1. Mosquitos are just as picky about blood type as are the aristocrats of society. It should be Type O preferably. Between 38% and 80% of the population carries Type O blood in their veins and arteries. Contrary to only less than 4% of humans who have Type A or AB blood. That means that when a mosquito is out shopping for a drink, it is more likely to find clusters of Type O people just hanging around at picnics, fireworks celebrations and backyard BBQs. No doubt the A and AB Positive types will be at these same parties, but they needn’t be too worried. Statically if a Type O and Type A are together, throw in a mosquito and Bada Bing Bada Boom, you have a Type O daiquiri any mosquito cannot refuse. That’s on the top of the I like you better list. Then comes another ‘you can’t help that’ about yourself. We all emit a trace amount of Co2, or carbon dioxide. Not enough to where we should be passing out left and right as we hug someone or kiss them. But enough to let an angry hungry hunter mosquito know where we are. They can smell it, believe it or not.
The summer season is riddled with holidays most of which will be celebrated outdoors. It is a mosquito’s favorite time of year. In June they are waking up from a nice hibernation usually, if the creature is lucky, it falls asleep in December and lays dormant for 6 months. Lucky because if the bug does not go night night by December, it will not survive. A female mosquito will be born in a stagnant piece of water, or a pond and after it wakes up will live for about a month, and die. The males, well they are born, they mate, and they die. Their only purpose is to be the baby daddy of the 300 eggs the mother will lay after he does his job. It is the females who are the ones who seek you out, latch on to your exposed body part and suck the life juice out of you to feed her babies. The males never get to be the night stalkers. They are probably already gone.
Fellow unwitting blood donors, we are coming into the peak of their season. Arm yourselves as best you can against these tiny dragons as she swoops in for the kill, and begins to drain your blood. Beware that in all of this, mosquitoes can also spread viruses and malaria. West Nile virus is a biggy in most of the country. ‘DEET’ found in OFF is like kryptonite to them, but don’t discount the backyard bug zapper. Mosquitoes do have natural predators that can speed up their life cycle. Birds, bats, and dragonflies cannot resist a good blood-filled mosquito appetizer. Then there is of course, extreme old age, over month-old ones succumb to this grim reaper.
Remember though, you are a full-grown human being, and even full-grown mosquitoes are a fraction the size of your thumb. So, man up! Take as many of them down this year as you can and do your part to rid the world of vampire insects.
